Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic has started, people are advised to follow a set of guidelines to reduce the chances of being infected with the virus. These guidelines include wearing a mask, maintaining social distance, washing your hands regularly, etc.
But not everyone agrees with the fact that wearing a mask would even help. There has been a debate going on between scientists on whether wearing a mask prevents the wearer or others from contracting the virus.
Many studies claim that wearing a mask indeed helps a lot in controlling the spread of the virus. The UK’s Royal Society has published a report in which it is concluded that wearing a mask does help a lot in reducing the transmission of the virus.
The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation conducted research recently that concludes that the transmission can be reduced by 30 percent if 95 percent of people wore masks in public.
These are great numbers but not everyone agrees with this. Many Americans do not follow the guidelines as they think that it does not help and is just a violation of their freedom.
A professor in cellular microbiology, Simon Clarke, states that there is no new evidence regarding the results of the study conducted by the UK’s Royal Society. He says that the negative effects of wearing a face mask have also not been considered in the research.
Whereas the Chu, an anesthesiologist disagrees with this and claims that he and many other doctors have not experienced any health problems due to the mask which they have to wear every day.
Ben Killingley, a consultant in acute medicine and infectious diseases said that the UK’s Royal Society’s report is overly optimistic. There isn’t any sort of evidence that supports the research.
Nevertheless, it is always better to be safe than sorry. As most of the experts are of the opinion that masks are somewhat effective, we should follow experts’ advise us to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe.
The best way to deal with people that do not wear masks is to first understand their perspective, empathize with them and try to convince them by talking about what the consequences could be of not wearing a mask.
Leaders and role models should wear masks because actions are much more effective than words.
